BLUElab Metro: Cultivating a thriving community at Willow Run Acres

Founded and directed by TC Collins, Willow Run Acres (WRA) is a non-profit that maintains four community garden sites in Southeast Michigan. Through their outreach programs and educational opportunities, Willow Run Acres strives to provide local produce to lower-opportunity communities and raise awareness of food sovereignty and racial disparities related to food and its production. 

When Addie Henkel and Atlas Fracasso joined BLUElab Metro in Fall 2024, two main projects directed BLUElab Metro’s energy: the development of a fleet of solar-powered picnic tables and the design of an automated irrigation system to reduce the manual labor required to maintain the gardens. 

One year later, Henkel and Fracasso are now Co-Leads of  BLUElab Metro. 

Reflecting on their first year with BLUElab Metro (or simply “Metro”), Henkel and Fracasso remember the support of C-SED’s resources, the meaningful collaboration with Willow Run Acres, and the momentum that brings them into another year of impactful design. 

 

Part I: Nurturing connections

TC Collins has partnered with the multidisciplinary co-curricular student group BLUElab Metro since the Ginsberg Center connected the two organizations through their community partner Matchmaking Process in January of 2024. 

With their year’s goals set, Metro reached out to the Center for Socially Engaged Engineering & Design at the suggestion of their former advisor and C-SED Co-Founder, Steve Skerlos, to transform their ideas into positive action. 

“We saw it as a great opportunity since our projects and partnership were brand new, and the structure/funding from the program would be invaluable,” explains former Metro Co-Lead, Savin Dasanayaka.

At the conclusion of their program with the Center for Socially Engaged Engineering & Design, BLUElab shared their year’s work and received a $2,000 grant to continue their mission. 

 

 

Part II: Learning from TC Collins and Willow Run Acres

Central to a socially engaged design approach is the prioritization of stakeholders in the design process. For Metro, it’s essential that TC Collins and Willow Run Acres remain at the forefront of every decision – and that those decisions are made in collaboration with him. 

Before joining Metro, Addie Henkel had not interacted with community stakeholders to such an extent before. But with support from C-SED’s Project Team resources, the process became more familiar – and exciting. 

“I honestly really appreciated the design process,” says Henkel. “ We had so many options, but just talking with our stakeholder about what he needs and what he wants helped us narrow stuff down. It was really cool to work with him on things so that the design process didn’t feel so lonely or open-ended.” 

With the additional support of modules and consultations provided by C-SED, Metro was able to identify how to co-complete their design projects alongside Willow Run Acres instead of designing a solution for them. Following a socially engaged design approach, they got to work. 

 

In search of an efficient irrigation system 

At the time, it was up to a small group of three to manage the entirety of WRA’s six acres. Limited by the loss of major grants, Collins assumed the responsibility of watering the plants at the Clay Hill site by hand – delivering and distributing the water each day by himself. 

This need for efficiency, as well as Collins’ desire to promote STEM education in the community, opened the door for Metro’s automated irrigation system project.

With feedback from Collins and the resources of C-SED, Metro designed an irrigation system that would relieve TC Collins of manually watering each row/plant individually, and further allow him to complete other tasks instead of monitoring the irrigation system as it runs. Metro also considered the accessibility of the system, addressing any barriers to entry in order to ensure that volunteers can learn the system quickly and effectively. 

Finally, the system itself was envisioned to serve as an example of the opportunities that STEM education offers. 

 

Building a community of picnic tables 

In his work, TC Collins is dedicated to promoting STEM education in his community and ensuring that his farm is a space where people can gather to learn about reclaiming agriculture, STEM, and black history in Southeast Michigan. 

Drawn to Collins’ emphasis on community and STEM, Metro began to design a fleet of solar-powered picnic tables that can offer both a gathering space for people to assemble and simultaneously showcase what STEM can accomplish in the community.

 

Part III: Creating stakeholder-driven solutions 

Offering mentorship and support with idea generation throughout the year, the C-SED resources provided a series of scaffolded deep dives into socially engaged design topics – from stakeholder interviewing techniques to creating a prototype. 

Atlas Fracasso remembers first encounter the modules, saying “At the beginning, I remember us thinking, ‘oh, we’re kind of past this phase’ or ‘it’s not as applicable,’ but then we were like, well, actually, we didn’t actually consider this, this, and this, so maybe we should go back and revisit that.’” 

Looking back on the process, Addie Henkel says, “I really appreciated the modules as tools to organize ourselves, We had a lot of data and a lot of information that we weren’t documenting very well, but I feel like C-SED helped us, even challenged us to look at what we have, organize it all, and then see what we’re missing as well.” 

Over the course of the 2024-2025 academic year, BLUElab Metro was able to complete the CAD design for their solar table, begin working in the flume lab to carry out tests for their smart irrigation system,  weatherproof each project, and even earn a $10,000 grant through the Davis Projects for Peace Program. 

Continuing to intentionally adapt the socially engaged design process model into every detail of their partnership with Willow Run Acres, the members of BLUElab Metro remain dedicated to creating collaborative designs that leave a lasting impact. 

“It opened my eyes and changed how I think about design, how I think about engineering, and how we should go about that as a society,” says Henkel, reflecting on all that she learned throughout her first year with Metro “I was not familiar with [socially engaged design] before, but once it was explained to me, the concepts made perfect sense – like, of course you would design this way!”

Unraveling irrigation tubing / Photo by Marcin Szczepanski

 

Part IV: Entering a new season 

As they head into the 2025-2026 academic year, the entire Metro team goes with the support of the Center of Socially Engaged Engineering & Design. 

With ever-expanding plans for future projects, such as integrating their solar technology into the automated irrigation system, continuing to facilitate tests in the flume lab,  and organizing community volunteer events, Metro continues to show their deep commitment to supporting Willow Run Acres’ vision of equitable access to healthy food, sustainable farming, and empowered communities. 

Ultimately, Metro’s central goal is to continue supporting TC Collins as he cultivates a community that is socially, physically, mentally, and economically healthy and thriving. 

Interested in learning more about BLUElab Metro and Willow Run Acres? Reach out to BLUElab Metro Co-Leads, Atlas Fracasso (fracasso@umich.edu) and Addie Henkel (amhenkel@umich.edu) to learn more, check out their U-M Engineering article, or follow BLUElab Metro on Instagram. 

Inspired to adapt the socially engaged design process model in your own co-curricular team? Explore C-SED’s Project Team Resource Guide to learn how.